[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1855 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1855

    To require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to 
 recognize that electronic forms of providing MSDS's provide the same 
            level of access to information as paper copies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 24, 1998

Mr. Wyden (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to 
 recognize that electronic forms of providing MSDS's provide the same 
            level of access to information as paper copies.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Information Readability 
and Electronic Dissemination Act''.

SEC. 2. OSHA RECOGNITION OF ELECTRONIC MSDS'S.

    Section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 
U.S.C. 655(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 
        this paragraph, the Secretary shall promulgate a rule to 
        clarify that an employer complies with the standard contained 
        in section 1910.1200(g) of title 29, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, that requires the employer to maintain information 
        on each hazardous chemical used in the workplace if the 
        information is readily accessible (available for retrieval 
        within 24 hours, or immediately in the case of an emergency) to 
        employees through electronic access or other alternatives to 
        paper copies.''.

SEC. 3. STANDARDIZED FORMAT FOR MSDS'S.

    Section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 
U.S.C. 655(b)) (as amended by section 2), is further amended by adding 
at the end the following:
            ``(10)(A) Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall modify the 
        regulations contained in section 1910.1200 of title 29, Code of 
        Federal Regulations, to require a standard format for 
        presenting information on hazardous chemicals as required under 
        such section. Such format shall provide that the required 
        information be provided in a uniform and consistent manner.
            ``(B) The standard format under subparagraph (A) shall 
        require information on all new hazardous chemicals produced, 
        imported, or used to be presented at a literacy proficiency 
        level that is substantially equivalent to Literacy Level 2 as 
        defined by the Department of Education in the National Center 
        for Education Statistics, 1992 Adult Literacy Survey.
            ``(C) The modifications required under this paragraph shall 
        become effective not later than 3 years after the date of 
        enactment of this paragraph.''.
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